Eleven Days: An Unexpected Love

by Lora Lindy

  While Lana made fresh coffee, she wanted to break the silence. “I see you guys work well together.”

  “Yes ma’am, Joe is the youngest of all of us but he has caught on fast.”

  “I have to say I admire you guys and all the work you do. It amazes me how you all work as if this is everyday stuff. I’m stressed enough for all of you guys. Does your wife get stressed?”

  “Sometimes she does, especially if we are in the field and she doesn’t hear from me for a couple of days. Not long ago we were serving a federal felony warrant in New Mexico. The guy we were staking out was literally in the middle of the desert. We had no phone service so I couldn’t call her. We were not allowed to break radio silence, so she worried a lot on that one.”

  Lana thought about how awful that would be to not be able to talk to Mike for two days. She missed him after two hours. “How does she handle it?”

  “Pray.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. I want to say I’m sorry you have to be here now and not with your family.”

  “My wife and I look at it like this, every minute I’m away from her I’m keeping her and other American’s safe.”

  “Wow, that’s a great way to look at it the situation.” She would have to remember that for the future. “Raymond, why did you use the word Americans instead of citizens or people?”

  “Our team is an anti-terrorism team, and we serve warrants. We were formed after September 11. That’s just a word we decided as a team to use as part of our terminology.”

  “So why are you working this case?”

  “Because of Mike, we normally don’t work jobs that don’t have anything to do with terrorism, but this is an exception.”

  “If you’re on the anti-terrorism team, then why was Frank killed on a drug bust?”

  “Well, we only tell the media what we want them to tell the public.”

  “That makes sense. Do you have many terrorist that are female?” She didn’t know why she thought of that, and she expected him to say no.

  “Not many, but the numbers keep rising. That makes it hard on us because we can’t be gentle on them. People sometimes don’t understand why we get rough with a woman. But they can tote a bomb just as easy as a man. And they can fly planes as well.”

  “I guess I never thought about it that way. But your right, in your business you can’t trust anyone.”

  Her heart felt so proud to have men like Raymond and Mike protecting her. She now knows how the wife’s of the soldiers in Iraq feel. “I want to thank you for taking care of me.”

  Raymond put his hand on her shoulder and said softly. “You are welcome.”

  “Thank you for your honesty. If you don’t mind I’m going to go to bed.”

  “Absolutely, just call me if you need anything.”

  “I will, and you do the same.”

  Chapter 23

  Day 8

  October 22 1:41 a.m.

  Lana woke to a faint splashing of water and teeth being brushed. She rolled over and saw a shadow through the crack of the bathroom door. She noticed he tried to be quiet as he got ready for bed. She pulled the covered back for him, so all he had to do was crawl in and snuggle.

  Once he turned off the light, an immediate beam glowed through the crack of the drapes. The guys left the back porch light on, and it guided Mike to the bed. The dense coolness of the room surprised Mike. Whenever he stayed at the beach house he always left the door open. With the door shut the room didn’t get much heat. He tried to make a mental note to remember to check on the vents tomorrow and make sure they were opened fully. He knew their snuggling would create enough body heat to keep them warm for one night.

  As he crawled in bed Lana moaned a sleepy sigh and asked Mike a question. “Did the computer run to town?”

  “What?” He pulled back and looked over at her. She was sound asleep. Someone talks in her sleep. He pulled her close and made sure he didn’t touch her with his icy feet, nor did he touch her forehead.

  *****

  It wasn’t even daylight when one of the agents knocked on the bedroom door.

  “What do you need?” Mike asked without moving one muscle. He was exhausted with only a couple of hours of sleep. His mouth was near her ear and his voice seemed louder than normal. “I don’t want to get up,” he whispered.

  Joe stood at the door. “Sorry to bother you sir, I just wanted to let you know Detective Quentin is here and wants to see you.”

  “I’ll be out in a minute.” Mike pulled Lana closer and he kissed her on the shoulder.

  “Yes sir,” answered Joe.

  “As much as I want to snuggle, I’ve got to get busy. But you sleep in and come out whenever you want.” He sat on the edge of the bed for a few seconds then he gathered enough energy to walk in the bathroom. He didn’t turn on any lights until he shut the bathroom door.

  She rolled over to where Mike had been sleeping and tried to doze off snuggled to his pillow. She could smell the faint hint of his cologne and she smiled.

  Quent was hanging his coat in the front closet as Mike walked in the living room. “Hey Mike, I’m sorry to bother you so early, but I thought you would want to know what we found at the Border’s house and the Explorer.” Quent noticed Mike looked tired with dark circles under his eyes and they were bloodshot. He always looked professional, but today he had on workout pants and a t-shirt. He wasn’t going to the office, so he might as well be comfortable. He thought the stress was getting to Mike a little bit. Knowing him for several years, Quent knew he could go days without sleep.

  He scanned the room and saw all the boards set up and they had posted pictures, timelines, and a blank spot for blood types and DNA. In the far left corner, a computer was set up with a printer. One thing is for sure about the marshal’s they were always prepared and ready to go.

  “I hope you have good news.” Mike extended his arm to persuade Quent to move to the living room to sit.

  Quent reached into his shirt pocket to grab the notebook where he wrote his notes. He also grabbed a couple of Tums. When he stayed up all night his stomach produced more acid. Then he had to sit up to sleep. Six anti-acids tablets every morning did the trick. “We did find some hair evidence in the Explorer and at the home. We know Mrs. Borders bit the perp. The coroner found blood around her mouth and couldn’t find any other source of the blood. He also said they have been dead about a week. The crime scene investigators left the house a few hours ago. Hopefully we’ll know all the blood types within the hour.”

  “Lana has been here a week, do you think that’s a coincident?” Mike asked.

  “Maybe, but I don’t think so. We need to check everyone’s blood type to either rule them out or make them a suspect. And Mike I have to be honest, the three clown’s alibis are panning out, at least so far. They were not even in this part of the country last week. They have family in Muskogee and their phone records and gas receipts prove they were there. All we’re waiting on is the video from some of the gas stations they say they stopped. I know this is not what you want to hear, but I don’t think they killed Johnson either. He’s been dead at least three days, and I think they were truthful when they said they stole the truck and cell phone. The cell phone number is the one that’s in the phone book. The only crime they are guilty of, or at least so far is breaking and entering, attempted rape and grand theft auto. I can assure you, the DA will not charge them on the attempted rape charges because Lana never entered the house. Even though they admitted they were there to rape her, they never laid a hand on her.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me, and you found Johnson?” Mike stayed busy writing notes.

  “Yes, we found his body just down the road and it looks like he leaned against a tree and sat down, and died. His body is at the medical examiner now. I’ll let you know the results. We know he died way after the Borders because his daughter last talked to him four days ago.”

  “Do you think he died of natural causes?”

  “Any o
ther time I would say yes, but with everything else going on, I think he was murdered, and I hope I’m wrong.”

  “It does seem too coincidental. So I guess the next step is to officially turn the case over to the feds, that is, if you’re ready.” Mike was ready to hit this case head on because there were big stakes in this crime, Lana. Mike did want to wait for Quent to officially hand the case over to him. He didn’t want to step on any toes. He had a great working relationship with Quent and he didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that.

  “Well Mike I can’t tie the three suspects to any of these crimes, or at least so far. But I’ll have the lab keep working on it. Give me through the morning and I’ll be glad to give it to you. I have to make sure everything is in order for my captain.”

  “I understand how the chain of command works. When do you think the blood type results will be finished?”

  “I’m hoping within the hour or so. They’ve been running samples all night. I told them not to call me until they have all the samples checked. We had over two hundred, so it will take a little while. I don’t want them to come in bits and pieces.”

  “Thanks for doing that. I guess we’ll wait for those. How about I buy you a cup of coffee?”

  “You’re on, and then I’m heading home, it has been a long night. Maybe the results of the blood types will be in before I leave.”

  Mike patted Quent on the shoulder and they walked in the kitchen. Quent would have made a great federal agent. He always thought three steps ahead. Most importantly he was an honest man. Many cops would have thrown the book at these three clowns and be done with it, but Quent always wanted the truth. His looks did fit the typical cop stereotype. He was extremely overweight and some might say obese. He had the military hair cut that was so short when he looks down it looked like he was bald on the top of his head. Some women might find him attractive, but most probably would not. Mike commented to Quent many times that he married one of the nicest women in the county. She stood by Quent when he almost died of staff infection a few years ago. She attends and was strongly involved in all the police functions and fund raisers like crime stoppers. Between the two of them they have seven children. She had two from a previous marriage and he had two, and then they had three together. What Mike liked best about Quent was his virtue of honesty. Mike would have been proud to have Quent on his team.

  “So Quent how do you like your coffee?” Mike asked as he reached in the cabinet to pull out two mugs.

  “Black,” answered Quent.

  “That’s how I like it too.” He poured two mugs of steaming hot coffee and put the plate of pastries on the bar so they both could reach them.

  Quent eyed the several varieties and picked the raspberry, he reckoned it was the sweetest. “I see you guys started your investigation?” Quent said between taking sips of the hot coffee and took a bite of the raspberry filled donut.

  Mike noticed powdered sugar around his mouth, and handed him a paper towel. Quent took the hint and wiped his mouth. “Well, after getting your news this morning, we will be starting from scratch. We were leaning towards the three guys. But after your information, we’ll have to develop more theories.” Mike reached into the fridge to get some french vanilla cream. It was pretty good stuff and he wanted something sweet, something besides a pastry.

  While blowing on his coffee Quent said. “You’re not starting from scratch. You know these three aren’t suspects anymore. There will be no need to waste your time on these petty criminals.” He reached his mug out when he saw the creamer.

  “Eliminating them does help us, and we can thank you for that.” Mike didn’t want to tell this to Quent, but he would double check all the results the state lab concluded. It wasn’t a federal law enforcement policy to do that, but it was Mike’s policy. The state had made errors in past cases. When there were three murders, it didn’t hurt to double check the lab work.

  “That’s my job Mike and you’ve helped me out plenty of times on past cases. Remember that little girl rape case several years back. You had your lab process the work three times faster than ours and you help save another girl from being raped.”

  He didn’t think he would ever forget that case. A pedophile had a life sentence, and he escaped out of a mental hospital in Portland Oregon. DNA was fairly new and the state lab took several weeks for the results to come back. Mike pulled favors at the FBI and got the results in a couple of weeks. Then the FBI ran the results and got a hit in a matter of minutes. They were shocked the man got all the way to Plymouth without being detected. They ran a check and found three other little girls had been raped on his route across country. They literally captured him seconds before he abducted another child. “I was more than glad to help. I just wish all local and federal levels worked together as well as you and me.”

  Their conversation was interrupted by Quent’s phone. He quickly got out his pen and pad to take notes. “It’s the lab, maybe it’s the results. Quent speaking ��� yea ��� great job ��� thanks for putting a rush on this, I know Mike will appreciate it ��� keep me informed.” He wrote a few notes on his pad before he continued. “Well, we’ve got good news and bad news.”

  “I’m ready. What did they find?” Mike listened intently.

  “The blood on Ms. Border’s mouth is male B-and that’s the good news, we got a blood type. The lab wasn’t sure they could get anything since it was a small sample, and the killer poured bleach on her mouth.” Mike turned pale and he didn’t have to ask. Quent answered Mike’s questioning face. “She was already dead when he poured the bleach.” They both had been in law enforcement long enough to hope the victims suffered as little abuse as possible.

  Mike let out a sigh of relieve. These people were not just victims, they were his neighbors. “I think I already know the bad. It doesn’t match any of the three suspects.”

  “That’s not the only bad news.”

  Raymond walked in to get some coffee and knew he should listen.

  Then Quent continued glancing back and forth between the two. “The sperm on the outside wall is AB+ and all the suspects in jail are O+.”

  Raymond stopped in his tracks and looked at both Mike and Quent and said. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” For the moment, Raymond put off getting coffee. This information was far more important than a cup of coffee, even this early hour of the morning.

  Quent looked at both Mike and Raymond. “Yep, there are two different unknown suspects. And the lab eliminated the husband. I’m betting there were two involved with the Borders murder. And if I was a betting man, the killers saw someone over here. And they did all this to scare you. I think you need to check out the Borders. My hunch is the killers knew them.”

  Mike was shocked and relieved at the same time. Maybe Quent was right, this had nothing to do with him or Lana.

  Quent added. “I just can’t imagine the Borders killing has anything to do with Lana, but in this job anything is possible. I’m going to head out and I’ll think about it more when my brain gets some sleep. Good luck guys and let me know if I can help in any way.” He left the number of the lab in case they needed it. He also tore off the page where he wrote down the blood types as he walked out the door.

  “Raymond.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “We’re not going to wait for the captain’s approval. Let’s quietly start the investigation. Did we send samples of the blood and sperm to Sara?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Good, have her start processing everything.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Chapter 24

  6:38 a.m.

  Lana turned on the TV when Mike left just so she would have some noise other than the men talking in the other room. Two women were talking about a facial cream that helped dark spots disappear. It must be a real miracle cream because the women’s before and after photo’s made them look thirty years younger. The program kept being interrupted by the wind howling. Every once in a while sh
e could hear sand and sleet hit the window and it made her feel fretful for some reason. She turned up the volume of the TV to drown out the wind. She couldn’t seem to completely wake up, nor go back into a deep sleep.

  The door opened and she peeked through one eye and noticed Mike shut the door with one foot. That let Lana know his hands were full.

  First thing Mike noticed was her t-shirt raised above her waist and her flat tummy was exposed. He sighed when he saw her curvy body.

  Half awake she mumbled. “Hi baby.”

  “I have a surprise for you.”

  “I think I smell butter, so I bet its donuts.”

  He grinned. “You can’t surprise a cook with food.” He sat the plate on the night stand next to the steaming mugs of coffee. The pillow was curled up under her head and a lock of hair was tossed across her nose. He remembered last night as he snuggled next to her, her hair would tickle his nose. He loved that. It’s been years since that happened. His wife kept her hair short once their kids were born. Once in awhile she would let her hair grow long. She only let it grow long to make Mike happy. He loved long hair. Lana could keep her hair as long as she wanted, the longer the better.

  When she picked up her coffee she noticed creamer was in it. She looked at Mike in surprise. “I thought we couldn’t eat or drink anything in the kitchen?”

  “I sent one of the agents to get you some.”

  “That was so sweet. I sure need it.” She sipped her delicious coffee. She propped some of the pillows against the headboard so she could lean on them and get comfortable. “Have you got much accomplished on the case?” She asked while reaching for a chocolate covered donut.

  “It’s progressing just fine. As all the blood types come in we should be able to piece everything together. Speaking of the case, honey I wanted to ask you if you noticed anything unusual the past week.”